Hey World Bladers!
Outlined below are several important new ruling additions, updates, and clarifications to some WBO Organized Play rulebooks and the Organizers' Guide. View all WBO Organized Play Rules & Resources here, and a summary of the changes below:
Updates Overview
Organizational Updates
Zektor joins the team!
It's been a while since we last expanded the Organized Play team, so this is long overdue! But we're pleased to announce that Zektor has recently joined the Organized Play team!
While Zektor will be dipping his toes in everything as he gets warmed up, his primary focus for the immediate future will be in event documentation and match processing. So if you're an Organizer, expect to hear from him following your events soon!
We ask everyone to give him a warm welcome to the team!
All Rulebook Updates
Burst GT goes Ranked starting Monday 5th December!
Following an extensive Experimental period, we are pleased to confirm that Burst GT will be promoted to a ranked format starting Monday 5th December 2022!
This change has been a long time coming, and we had hoped to make this change alongside the release of a large ranking update this year, hence the long wait. However, with the latter being delayed, it makes no sense to further delay the legalisation of GT, so we will bring this forward.
Burst GT: Sparking Layers removed from format
Alongside this Ranked legalisation, we have decided to make some final changes to the Restriction List for GT, largely targeting Sparking Layer System Layers. Up until now, a selection of these have been legal for use in the format, though we have heard extremely mixed feedback on this from the community: some Bladers enjoying them being available, and others feeling that the mixed legalisation creates an accessibility nightmare and is often unclear to those learning the format.
Accessibility is a huge consideration for us and, as a result, we have made the decision to remove the permitted Sparking Layer System Layers from the format. We appreciate that this will be a positive change to some players and a controversial one to others, but we will continue to monitor the format going forward to ensure this change is for the better long-term, and evaluate our options for Sparking Layers in the future.
All Rulebooks: Relaunching Restrictions & Clarification
Relaunching has been a hot topic within the Organized Play team in recent weeks. On one note, it has been noted that we lack a limit on relaunch requests, which has been causing matches within some communities to run for extreme lengths of time. On another note, we have also heard that some communities are often permitting relaunch requests for reasons that are not defined within the relaunching guidelines.
While these issues aren't frequent, we are taking the opportunity to add the following limit to the relaunching guidelines:
With this change, Bladers are expected to ensure their equipment is up-to-date and functional before starting a match to avoid the risk of excessive relaunches. If your launcher continues to malfunction, we encourage Bladers to request to replace their faulty launcher with an identical replacement per our "Breakage During Play" rules to avoid unintentionally conceding points within a match.
We would also like to remind all Bladers that relaunches are intended for the reasons outlined above, which are often out of Blader's control, and not for launches which are perhaps not how a Blader envisioned, such as missing a flower pattern or self KO'ing into a pocket. Judges are expected and reminded to deny relaunch requests if they note that the reason given is invalid.
Organizer’s Guide Updates
![[Image: WBO-Organizers-Guide.png]](https://worldbeyblade.org/images/WBO-Organizers-Guide.png)
Deck now legal as a First Stage match type
In past iterations of the Organizer’s Guide, the Deck Match Type was exclusively reserved for the Final Stages of events. However, with the addition of 3v3 and P3C1 in recent months, we feel that this could also be an exciting Match Type to allow for the first-stage in events.
And that's precisely what we're going to do! Starting today, Organizers may now create events featuring the Deck Format Match Type in the First Stage!
Prior to this update, the Deck Match Type was a bit more of an exclusive experience, locked behind the Final Stage barrier, so for some Bladers this may be one of the first times they’ll encounter the Match Type at all! We encourage all Bladers to take the opportunity to give this a try, especially if they haven't been able to before!
However, as experienced Bladers may be aware, Deck can often be one of the deeper and more time-consuming Match Types, depending on the format, individual Bladers and their deck compositions. As a result, we believe that Deck will be best suited to smaller events, and we encourage all Organizers to keep this in consideration when choosing a Match Type for their event.
Introducing the Match Types Guide!
Alongside the addition of Deck for First Stage, we will also be releasing the Match Types Guide, a new resource to help Organizers identify the best Match Type for their event. Particularly as we expand the repetoire of match types, we expect this to become a key resource for Organizers going forward.
This also offloads some of the information found in the Organizer’s Guide and provides Organizers with a single, clean and concise document that outlines all potential Match Types available to you during a WBO event, including the specific rules catering to each one and their point values. This means that the following information has updated:
Feedback?
If you have any feedback on these particular changes, or any questions or suggestions for further adjustments or additions, please post your thoughts below or in the WBO Organized Play Rules thread.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of WBO Organized Play! We appreciate any and all feedback and are always looking to improve and clarify things where possible.
Outlined below are several important new ruling additions, updates, and clarifications to some WBO Organized Play rulebooks and the Organizers' Guide. View all WBO Organized Play Rules & Resources here, and a summary of the changes below:
Updates Overview
- [IMPORTANT] Staffing Update: Zektor joins the team!
- [IMPORTANT] Burst GT: Going ranked starting Monday 5th December 2022!
- Burst GT: Sparking Layers removed from format.
- All Rulebooks: Relaunching Restrictions & Clarification
- Organizer's Guide: Deck now legal as a First-Stage match type!
- Organizer's Guide: Introducing the Match Types Guide!
Organizational Updates
Zektor joins the team!
It's been a while since we last expanded the Organized Play team, so this is long overdue! But we're pleased to announce that Zektor has recently joined the Organized Play team!
While Zektor will be dipping his toes in everything as he gets warmed up, his primary focus for the immediate future will be in event documentation and match processing. So if you're an Organizer, expect to hear from him following your events soon!
We ask everyone to give him a warm welcome to the team!
All Rulebook Updates
Burst GT goes Ranked starting Monday 5th December!
Following an extensive Experimental period, we are pleased to confirm that Burst GT will be promoted to a ranked format starting Monday 5th December 2022!
This change has been a long time coming, and we had hoped to make this change alongside the release of a large ranking update this year, hence the long wait. However, with the latter being delayed, it makes no sense to further delay the legalisation of GT, so we will bring this forward.
Burst GT: Sparking Layers removed from format
Alongside this Ranked legalisation, we have decided to make some final changes to the Restriction List for GT, largely targeting Sparking Layer System Layers. Up until now, a selection of these have been legal for use in the format, though we have heard extremely mixed feedback on this from the community: some Bladers enjoying them being available, and others feeling that the mixed legalisation creates an accessibility nightmare and is often unclear to those learning the format.
Accessibility is a huge consideration for us and, as a result, we have made the decision to remove the permitted Sparking Layer System Layers from the format. We appreciate that this will be a positive change to some players and a controversial one to others, but we will continue to monitor the format going forward to ensure this change is for the better long-term, and evaluate our options for Sparking Layers in the future.
All Rulebooks: Relaunching Restrictions & Clarification
Relaunching has been a hot topic within the Organized Play team in recent weeks. On one note, it has been noted that we lack a limit on relaunch requests, which has been causing matches within some communities to run for extreme lengths of time. On another note, we have also heard that some communities are often permitting relaunch requests for reasons that are not defined within the relaunching guidelines.
While these issues aren't frequent, we are taking the opportunity to add the following limit to the relaunching guidelines:
Format Rulebook - Relaunching Wrote:The primary reasons you’d want to request a relaunch are:
Bladers are entitled to a single relaunch per battle, though judges may freely invoke relaunches for Bladers outside of their allocation if they have a valid concern.
- Your launcher malfunctions in a way that causes your launch to be underpowered.
- You are accidentally hit or shoved by the opposing player or a spectator.
Bladers must request a relaunch during the countdown or immediately afterwards. The judge may deny the request if they determine that you were at fault or the reason given is invalid.
With this change, Bladers are expected to ensure their equipment is up-to-date and functional before starting a match to avoid the risk of excessive relaunches. If your launcher continues to malfunction, we encourage Bladers to request to replace their faulty launcher with an identical replacement per our "Breakage During Play" rules to avoid unintentionally conceding points within a match.
We would also like to remind all Bladers that relaunches are intended for the reasons outlined above, which are often out of Blader's control, and not for launches which are perhaps not how a Blader envisioned, such as missing a flower pattern or self KO'ing into a pocket. Judges are expected and reminded to deny relaunch requests if they note that the reason given is invalid.
Organizer’s Guide Updates
Deck now legal as a First Stage match type
In past iterations of the Organizer’s Guide, the Deck Match Type was exclusively reserved for the Final Stages of events. However, with the addition of 3v3 and P3C1 in recent months, we feel that this could also be an exciting Match Type to allow for the first-stage in events.
And that's precisely what we're going to do! Starting today, Organizers may now create events featuring the Deck Format Match Type in the First Stage!
Prior to this update, the Deck Match Type was a bit more of an exclusive experience, locked behind the Final Stage barrier, so for some Bladers this may be one of the first times they’ll encounter the Match Type at all! We encourage all Bladers to take the opportunity to give this a try, especially if they haven't been able to before!
However, as experienced Bladers may be aware, Deck can often be one of the deeper and more time-consuming Match Types, depending on the format, individual Bladers and their deck compositions. As a result, we believe that Deck will be best suited to smaller events, and we encourage all Organizers to keep this in consideration when choosing a Match Type for their event.
Introducing the Match Types Guide!
Alongside the addition of Deck for First Stage, we will also be releasing the Match Types Guide, a new resource to help Organizers identify the best Match Type for their event. Particularly as we expand the repetoire of match types, we expect this to become a key resource for Organizers going forward.
This also offloads some of the information found in the Organizer’s Guide and provides Organizers with a single, clean and concise document that outlines all potential Match Types available to you during a WBO event, including the specific rules catering to each one and their point values. This means that the following information has updated:
- The existing "Match Types" section in the Organizer's Guide now links to the seperated Match Types Guide.
- The completely seperate "Deck Match Type" section has been moved to the Match Types Guide.
- Club Format has moved from the Match Type section to the Tournament Systems section.
Feedback?
If you have any feedback on these particular changes, or any questions or suggestions for further adjustments or additions, please post your thoughts below or in the WBO Organized Play Rules thread.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of WBO Organized Play! We appreciate any and all feedback and are always looking to improve and clarify things where possible.
![[Image: 2UOYtIo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/2UOYtIo.png)
![[Image: 968fec4f6576fe557cb068c22cb490e3e3144eb9_hq.gif]](https://pa1.narvii.com/6522/968fec4f6576fe557cb068c22cb490e3e3144eb9_hq.gif)
![[Image: UwZsp7A.png]](https://i.imgur.com/UwZsp7A.png)
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